EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Lagos State Branch, Mr Adedoyin Adesina on Monday, commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of new salary structure for teachers nationwide.
Buhari, in his message to mark this year’s World Teachers’ Day in Lagos, directed the immediate review of teachers’ wages nationwide for improved service delivery in the sector.
President Buhari also used the occasion to announce the increase of teachers’ retirement age from 35 years to 40 years.
Represented by the Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu, Buhari ordered the Minister to facilitate the implementation of the new teachers’ salary scheme, saying that the gesture was to encourage teachers to deliver better services to their pupils and students.
The Lagos State NUT chairman, Adesina, expressed delight with the development, saying it would boost teachers morale and ensure efficient service delivery.
Adesina told the NAN in Lagos that he was proud of the President’s directive.
“This is a major change in the face of our education; the decision by Mr President would go a long way in making teachers do credibly well and effectively turn out good results.
“It is a welcome development because when teachers spend more years in their work they age with grace and become more experienced to give their very best.
“Indeed, the decision would change the face of teaching in Nigeria, because teachers have in the past not been catered for by past administrations,’’ Adesina said.
Earlier, Adesina had called on the Lagos State Government to employ more teachers to fill vacuum created by retired teachers in public schools.
Speaking at the celebration of 2020 World Teacher’s Day in Lagos on Monday, Adesina said that the union recommended that the state government should employ new teachers on subjects basis.
He acknowledged that the government had employed some teachers in both the secondary and primary schools earlier this year but “the number is still short of expectation’’.
“Many teachers have retired this year and the vacuum has to be filled in the various subjects,’’ he said.
Adesina also spoke on the need for additional classrooms to space students and prevent the over-crowded situation.
“This is the ideal, to implement the UNESCO’s standard of one teacher to 25 learners in a classroom.
“Low-cost buildings can be built as an emergency across the state,’’ he said.
The union leader remarked that teachers were the central figures and players in educational development.
“UNESCO recommends 26 per cent budget provision for education but no federal, state or local government has ever met this recommendation.
“The resultant effect is the poor standard in education.
“Therefore, we have to re-image and re-invent this situation,’’ he said.
Adesina commended Gov. Babjide Sanwo-Olu on the proactive and pragmatic measures put in place to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Our visionary and the highly ingenious governor had long before the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic introduced digital training and learning into our primary school education.
“We gave our utmost support for that innovative idea by encouraging our teachers, who successfully drive such the idealistic and imaginative concept.